Immigrant who shot HPD officer was in U.S. illegallyWilfido Joel Alfaro, 29, was fatally shot last week during drug raid

By Susan Carroll |
March 10, 2009

Wilfido Joel Alfaro had been arrested five times for possession or delivery of drugs – including three times after an immigration judge granted him “voluntary departure” in March 2001.

Houston police identified the suspect in a shooting last week that critically injured a police officer as an illegal immigrant from El Salvador, saying federal immigration officials missed multiple opportunities to deport him.

On Tuesday, Mayor Bill White said the disclosure about the immigration status of Wilfido Joel Alfaro, who was fatally shot by officers executing a drug search warrant Thursday night, highlights the federal government’s failure to identify and deport illegal immigrants convicted of crimes. Officer Richard Salter, shot in the face during the raid, in southeast Houston remains at a local hospital.

White said the federal government has “let us down.”

“As a local law enforcement agency, under law, we can’t deport people,” White said. “That is the job of the federal government, and we’re calling on the federal government to do their job.”

White said that after the shooting, information about Alfaro’s immigration status “was piecemeal and sometimes incomplete and inconsistent.”

White said immigration officials told him that Alfaro was at one time a legal permanent resident.

Alfaro had been arrested five times for possession or delivery of drugs — including three times after an immigration judge granted him “voluntary departure” in March 2001. At that point he lost his legal residency. Voluntary departure allows illegal immigrants to leave the country on their own terms, rather than be formally deported.

People granted voluntary departure benefit from not having a prior deportation on their record if they later apply for legal status. It also benefits the taxpayer by saving the cost of formal deportation proceedings, said Michael Keegan, a Homeland Security spokesman.

Keegan confirmed that Alfaro left the country after serving time on a felony drug charge, saying an immigration agent saw him board a plane to El Salvador in March 2001. Alfaro was arrested again in 2002 in Pearland, and again in 2003 on a drug charge in Angleton, authorities said.

Keegan said immigration officials received no queries from local law enforcement about Alfaro after 2001.

White said he believes illegal immigrants convicted of serious crimes should be deported immediately after they have been released from jail. He has talked to and written a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano outlining his concerns and recommendations for reforms, he said.

Keegan said Napolitano “fully appreciates Mayor White’s frustration,” adding that she has made identifying and removing criminal illegal immigrants a top priority.

Houston police and immigration officials pledged to improve cooperation after the murder of HPD Officer Rodney Johnson, who was killed in 2006 by a previously deported felon. After Johnson’s death, HPD offered Immigration and Customs Enforcement access to the city jails and started to refer previously deported felons and suspects with immigration warrants identified during fingerprint checks to ICE.

Critical of federal effort

White said on Tuesday that HPD and other law enforcement agencies have limited access to information on suspects’ immigration history. The main federal databases available to law enforcement agencies to screen criminals are “inconsistent and incomplete,” and more resources need to be devoted to improve them, the mayor said.

White said on Tuesday that HPD and other law enforcement agencies have limited access to information on suspects’ immigration history. The main federal databases available to law enforcement agencies to screen criminals are “inconsistent and incomplete,” and more resources need to be devoted to improve them, the mayor said.

The federal government’s failure to deport illegal immigrants convicted of crimes has become a controversial issue locally and nationally.

Informant warned HPD

A Houston Chronicle investigation last year found ICE failed to detain scores of violent, convicted criminals — some with prior deportation orders — who passed through Harris County’s jails.

In October, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office became the first law enforcement agency in the nation to participate in a pilot program that gives jailers access to a database that has more detailed information on suspects’ immigration status through an automated fingerprint check.

Before Thursday’s raid in the 9300 block of East Avenue O, an informant warned police that the house was used for narcotics activity and was a hangout for a violent gang, according to court documents.

Salter, 54, is in critical condition at Ben Taub General Hospital. However, officials on Tuesday said he moved two of his fingers for doctors, the first time they have asked him to respond.

After Salter was wounded, other officers shot and killed Alfaro, 29. Police seized 3.4 grams of marijuana after the shooting, but did not find any cocaine, Houston Police Chief Harold Hurtt said.